THE Judiciary on Wednesday sought an additional budget to create the Judiciary Marshals Office (JMO) following the enactment into law last
April 2022 of Republic Act 11691.
During the Senate Finance Committee hearing of the proposed P57.79 billion budget of the Judiciary for next year, Supreme Court Administrator Raul Villanueva said under the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the DBM allocated only P50 million for the JMO.
While Villanueva did not give any exact figure for the additional funding they were asking for, the amount needed to create the office was pegged at around P200 million.
Villanueva noted more than 1,000 employees will be hired for the discharge of the office’s mandate.
The office will prioritize the giving of security marshal to all key officials of the Judiciary.
At present, Villanueva said they are still finalizing the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Marshal Law for the structure of the Office to be created and its personnel.
Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano underscored three important things that would help the judiciary not just in infrastructure development, but also in the implementation of faster administration of justice.
He expressed willingness to help and support the judiciary’s short and long-term development plan.
Cayetano said it is important to establish more Justice Halls vis-à-vis the number of prosecutors and the number of police officers.
Also, he cited the need to construct additional structures that would help bring people closer to law such as museums or libraries.
Furthermore, he urged the judiciary to address the issue of security among justices, judges, and prosecutors.
“How do we communicate with the government, to the people, to the private sector that the faster the administration of justice the better for everyone?” Cayetano said.